An odd analysis from the usually smart undead on CA-36

by Datechguy | July 10th, 2011

An odd analysis from the usually smart undead on CA-36

The blog­ger Zom­bie is known for his exten­sive and solid photo essays and for his place as one of the great­est mem­bers of the old LGF crowd before Charles John­son went mad. PJ Media is lucky to have him, but read­ing his piece on the ca-​36 race seems to me an attempt to re-​write his­tory after the fact.

Let’s be Blunt: From Zombie’s own num­bers Craig Huey has no busi­ness win­ning this race. In the pri­mary he drew only 22% of the vote. The com­bined repub­li­can vote on the bal­lot (accord­ing to Wikipedia not my favorite source) was under 41% of the vote.

Mean­while the Democ­rats on the bal­lot com­bined for a total over 55% of the vote. That is a mar­gin of 14 points. Closer than ever before but still a huge hill to climb to win.

After the pri­mary nobody was pay­ing any atten­tion to this race, the National GOP was doing noth­ing, nobody was writ­ing about the race and it looked very much like Craig Huey was going to be yet another repub­li­can who was ready to “lose with dig­nity” with the words “for­mer GOP con­gres­sional can­di­date” on his resume.

The ad draws national atten­tion but back­fires and causes more dam­age to Huey’s cam­paign than it does to Hahn’s.

Say WHAT? Let’s look at Zombie’s own time line ver­ba­tim from his post:

June, 2011: Out­side PAC group unaf­fil­i­ated with the Huey cam­paign releases offen­sive YouTube rap video par­ody attack­ing Hahn for her sup­port of a pro­gram to give mil­lions of tax­payer dol­lars to con­victed vio­lent gang mem­bers as part of pur­ported “gang ame­lio­ra­tion” efforts. The ad draws national atten­tion but back­fires and causes more dam­age to Huey’s cam­paign than it does to Hahn’s.Early July, 2011: The gen­eral cam­paign begins to turn nasty as Hahn, stunned by poll results that show her lead is razor-​thin, releases sev­eral under­handed neg­a­tive attack ads against Huey.

Now in the world where I live in, this is what is known as: “cause and effect”

Later on in the post Zom­bie does it again (all empha­sis mine):

…Hahn’s team imme­di­ately rec­og­nized the dun­der­headed video as a god­send, some­thing that played into their hands.

From that day onward, Hahn and her sur­ro­gates have been men­tion­ing the ad inces­santly, try­ing to tar Huey as a racist by asso­ci­a­tion— even though it was Huey him­self who called the ad “racist.”

To this day, the “Give Me Your Cash, Bitch” ad remains the only aspect of this race which has drawn national atten­tion, much to Huey’s dismay.

One last detail, though: Despite back­fir­ing dis­as­trously, the ad (as noted at Slate) did suc­ceed in bring­ing the money-​for-​gangs story back to light, and ever since that time, a grow­ing pall of scan­dal has been cast over Hahn’s rep­u­ta­tion as well, as var­i­ous other media out­lets and blogs have fol­lowed up on the ugly story which seems to exem­plify Hahn’s “no account­abil­ity” rep­u­ta­tion.

Suc­ceeded in bring­ing the money-​for games story to light? It did a whole lot more than that:

It caused a Hacker (who has since been caught) to attack the site of the Ad.

In other words this ad suc­ceeded in caus­ing the Hahn cam­paign and the left to spend time money and give national expo­sure to an issue that she was vul­ner­a­ble on.

If this is what Zom­bie calls a “back­fire” I’d like to see what he things it is a direct hit. As Gen­eral Nathaniel Greene said after Bunker Hill:

I wish we would sell them another hill at the same price.

The truth is, with all due respect to can­di­date (and I hope soon con­gress­man) Huey the only rea­son he is poised for an incred­i­ble upset is the Turn Right /​Ehlinger video, period! It broke the dam and made every­thing that fol­lowed possible.

Zombie’s piece seems to attempt to do one of the fol­low­ing depend­ing on the result:

In the case of a Huey long­shot vic­tory, deny any credit to Turn Right USA

In the case of an unsur­pris­ing Huey defeat, blame Turn Right USA.

This attempt to mar­gin­al­ize Turn Right USA is eerily sim­i­lar to the cam­paign by estab­lish­ment repub­li­cans to blame Sarah Palin for the 2008 pres­i­den­tial defeat when her pres­ence on the ticket is the only rea­son why McCain had a prayer at all.

It could be I’m being too hard on Zom­bie, after all every­one gets it wrong once in a while, but as a friend of Ladd Ehlinger (so per­haps I’m biased) you can object to his tac­tics, you can object to his style, or his tac­tics, but to deny their effec­tive­ness in this race; That’s just nonsense.

If Huey’s ridicu­lously expen­sive cam­paign con­sul­tants at Gilliard Blan­ning (A Pro­fes­sional Loser Cor­po­ra­tion) want to blame me for a loss, they should do so after the elec­tion. If they want to get credit for a win, then they should also worry about that after the election.

First things first.

Update 2: Zom­bie kindly links back to my post and we exchange opin­ions in his comments.

The blogger Zombie is known for his extensive and solid photo essays and for his place as one of the greatest members of the old LGF crowd before Charles Johnson went mad. PJ Media is lucky to have him, but reading his piece on the ca-36 race seems to me an attempt to re-write history after the fact.

Let’s be Blunt: From Zombie’s own numbers Craig Huey has no business winning this race. In the primary he drew only 22% of the vote. The combined republican vote on the ballot (according to Wikipedia not my favorite source) was under 41% of the vote.

Meanwhile the Democrats on the ballot combined for a total over 55% of the vote. That is a margin of 14 points. Closer than ever before but still a huge hill to climb to win.

After the primary nobody was paying any attention to this race, the National GOP was doing nothing, nobody was writing about the race and it looked very much like Craig Huey was going to be yet another republican who was ready to “lose with dignity” with the words “former GOP congressional candidate” on his resume.

The ad draws national attention but backfires and causes more damage to Huey’s campaign than it does to Hahn’s.

Say WHAT? Let’s look at Zombie’s own time line verbatim from his post:

June, 2011: Outside PAC group unaffiliated with the Huey campaign releases offensive YouTube rap video parody attacking Hahn for her support of a program to give millions of taxpayer dollars to convicted violent gang members as part of purported “gang amelioration” efforts. The ad draws national attention but backfires and causes more damage to Huey’s campaign than it does to Hahn’s.Early July, 2011: The general campaign begins to turn nasty as Hahn, stunned by poll results that show her lead is razor-thin, releases several underhanded negative attack ads against Huey.

Now in the world where I live in, this is what is known as: “cause and effect”

Later on in the post Zombie does it again (all emphasis mine):

…Hahn’s team immediately recognized the dunderheaded video as a godsend, something that played into their hands.

From that day onward, Hahn and her surrogates have been mentioning the ad incessantly, trying to tar Huey as a racist by association— even though it was Huey himself who called the ad “racist.”

To this day, the “Give Me Your Cash, Bitch” ad remains the only aspect of this race which has drawn national attention, much to Huey’s dismay.

One last detail, though: Despite backfiring disastrously, the ad (as noted at Slate) did succeed in bringing the money-for-gangs story back to light, and ever since that time, a growing pall of scandal has been cast over Hahn’s reputation as well, as various other media outlets and blogs have followed up on the ugly story which seems to exemplify Hahn’s “no accountability” reputation.

Succeeded in bringing the money-for games story to light? It did a whole lot more than that:

It caused a Hacker (who has since been caught) to attack the site of the Ad.

In other words this ad succeeded in causing the Hahn campaign and the left to spend time money and give national exposure to an issue that she was vulnerable on.

If this is what Zombie calls a “backfire” I’d like to see what he things it is a direct hit. As General Nathaniel Greene said after Bunker Hill:

I wish we would sell them another hill at the same price.

The truth is, with all due respect to candidate (and I hope soon congressman) Huey the only reason he is poised for an incredible upset is the Turn Right / Ehlinger video, period! It broke the dam and made everything that followed possible.

Zombie’s piece seems to attempt to do one of the following depending on the result:

In the case of a Huey longshot victory, deny any credit to Turn Right USA

In the case of an unsurprising Huey defeat, blame Turn Right USA.

This attempt to marginalize Turn Right USA is eerily similar to the campaign by establishment republicans to blame Sarah Palin for the 2008 presidential defeat when her presence on the ticket is the only reason why McCain had a prayer at all.

It could be I’m being too hard on Zombie, after all everyone gets it wrong once in a while, but as a friend of Ladd Ehlinger (so perhaps I’m biased) you can object to his tactics, you can object to his style, or his tactics, but to deny their effectiveness in this race; That’s just nonsense.

If Huey’s ridiculously expensive campaign consultants at Gilliard Blanning (A Professional Loser Corporation) want to blame me for a loss, they should do so after the election. If they want to get credit for a win, then they should also worry about that after the election.

First things first.

Update 2: Zombie kindly links back to my post and we exchange opinions in his comments.

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